Stocks recovery continues as fears of banking crises ease - 31.3.2023

The Dollar weakening has halted currently. The live dollar index data show the ICE US Dollar index, a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six rival currencies, lost 0.4% Thursday as the Department of Labor data showed the number of Americans who sought unemployment benefits over the last week was higher than the forecast while their number rose.

Both EUR/USD and GBP/USD resumed their climbing Thursday as federal statistics office Destatis reported German inflation eased less than expected in March. Both euro and Pound are lower against the Dollar currently. USD/JPY ended marginally lower while AUD/USD reversed its retreating yesterday with both the yen and the Australian dollar lower against the Greenback currently.

US stock indexes futures are up currently ahead of the Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report today at 14:30 CET as the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes ticked up to 3.56%. The three main stock benchmarks recorded gains Thursday in the range of 0.4% to 0.7% led by tech stocks while reginal bank shares fell.

European stock market futures are mixed today after ending higher Thursday with retail shares leading gains. Asian stock indexes futures are mostly rising with Australia’s All Ordinaries index leading gains as purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data showed that while Chinese service sector activity grew at its fastest pace in 12 years in March, manufacturing activity slowed its expansion.

Brent has halted its rebounding currently. Prices ended higher on Thursday after US Energy Information Administration report the previous day that US crude oil stockpiles fell unexpectedly last week to a two-year low. The US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 1.9% but is lower currently. Brent crude added 1.3% to $79.27 a barrel on Thursday.